Description

Ansible role which installs and configures Graylog log management.

Dependencies

• Only Ansible versions > 2.2.0 are supported.
• Java 8 - Ubuntu Xenial and up support OpenJDK 8 by default. For other distributions consider backports accordingly
• Elasticsearch
• NGINX
• Tested on Ubuntu 16.04 / Debian 8 / Centos 7

Quickstart

• You need at least 4GB of memory to run Graylog
• Here is an example of a playbook targeting Vagrant (Ubuntu Xenial):

- hosts: "all"
  remote_user: "ubuntu"
  become: True
  vars:
    # Graylog is compatible with elasticsearch 5.x since version 2.3.0, so ensure to use the right combination for your installation
    # Also use the right branch of the Elasticsearch Ansible role, master supports 5.x.
    es_major_version: "5.x"
    es_version: "5.6.7"
    es_instance_name: "graylog"
    es_scripts: False
    es_templates: False
    es_version_lock: False
    es_heap_size: "1g"
    es_config:
      node.name: "graylog"
      cluster.name: "graylog"
      http.port: 9200
      transport.tcp.port: 9300
      network.host: "0.0.0.0"
      node.data: True,
      node.master: True

    # Elasticsearch role already installed Java
    graylog_install_java: False

    graylog_install_mongodb: True

    # For Vagrant installations make sure port 9000 is forwarded
    graylog_web_endpoint_uri: "http://localhost:9000/api/"
    # For other setups, use the external IP of the Graylog server
    # graylog_web_endpoint_uri: "http://{{ ansible_host }}:9000/api/"

  roles:
    - role: "Graylog2.graylog-ansible-role"
      tags:
        - "graylog"

• Create a playbook file with that content, e.g. your_playbook.yml
• Fetch this role ansible-galaxy install -n -p ./roles Graylog2.graylog-ansible-role
• Install role's dependencies ansible-galaxy install -r roles/Graylog2.graylog-ansible-role/requirements.yml -p ./roles
• Apply the playbook to a Vagrant box ansible-playbook your_playbook.yml -i "127.0.0.1:2222,"
• Login to Graylog by opening http://127.0.0.1:9000 in your browser. Default username and password is admin

Variables

# Basic server settings
graylog_server_version:     "2.4.3-1" # Optional, if not provided the latest version will be installed
graylog_is_master:          "True"
graylog_password_secret:    "2jueVqZpwLLjaWxV" # generate with: pwgen -s 96 1
graylog_root_password_sha2: "8c6976e5b5410415bde908bd4dee15dfb167a9c873fc4bb8a81f6f2ab448a918" # generate with: echo -n yourpassword | shasum -a 256

# Elasticsearch message retention
graylog_elasticsearch_max_docs_per_index:    20000000
graylog_elasticsearch_max_number_of_indices: 20
graylog_elasticsearch_shards:                4
graylog_elasticsearch_replicas:              0

graylog_rest_listen_uri:  "http://0.0.0.0:9000/api/"
graylog_web_listen_uri:   "http://0.0.0.0:9000/"
graylog_web_endpoint_uri: "http://127.0.0.1:9000/api/"

Take a look into defaults/main.yml to get an overview of all configuration parameters.

More detailed example

• Set up roles_path = ./roles in ansible.cfg ([defaults] block)
• Install role ansible-galaxy install Graylog2.graylog-ansible-role
• Install role's dependencies ansible-galaxy install -r roles/Graylog2.graylog-ansible-role/requirements.yml
• Set up playbook (see example below):

- hosts: "server"
  become: True
  vars:
    # Graylog is compatible with elasticsearch 5.x since version 2.3.0, so ensure to use the right combination for your installation
    # Also use the right branch of the Elasticsearch Ansible role, master supports 5.x.
    es_major_version: "5.x"
    es_version: "5.6.7"
    # Install Elasticsearch via repository or direct package download
    #es_use_repository: False
    #es_custom_package_url: "https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-5.6.7.rpm"
    es_instance_name: "graylog"
    es_scripts: False
    es_templates: False
    es_version_lock: False
    es_heap_size: "1g"
    es_config:
      node.name: "graylog"
      cluster.name: "graylog"
      http.port: 9200
      transport.tcp.port: 9300
      network.host: "0.0.0.0"
      node.data: True
      node.master: True

    # Elasticsearch role already installed Java
    graylog_java_install: False

    graylog_install_mongodb: True

    # For Vagrant installations make sure port 9000 is forwarded
    graylog_web_endpoint_uri: "http://localhost:9000/api/"
    # For other setups, use the external IP of the Graylog server
    # graylog_web_endpoint_uri: "http://{{ ansible_host }}:9000/api/"

    nginx_sites:
      graylog:
        - "listen 80"
        - "server_name graylog"
        - |
          location / {
            proxy_pass http://localhost:9000/;
            proxy_set_header Host $host;
            proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
            proxy_pass_request_headers on;
            proxy_connect_timeout 150;
            proxy_send_timeout 100;
            proxy_read_timeout 100;
            proxy_buffers 4 32k;
            client_max_body_size 8m;
            client_body_buffer_size 128k;
          }

  roles:
    - role: "Graylog2.graylog-ansible-role"
      tags:
        - "graylog"

• Run the playbook with ansible-playbook -i inventory_file your_playbook.yml
• Login to Graylog by opening http://<host IP> in your browser, default username and password is admin

Details to avoid issues with java, install behind proxy, use openjdk

You can use var: graylog_install_java: False and then add java from openjdk-8 instead of installing oracle java 8. Openjdk doesn't have problems to use a proxy for apt, also doesn't requires the license agreement that oracle requires.

Example:

- name: "Add java-jdk-8 ppa for Ubuntu xenial"
  hosts: "graylog_servers"
  become: True
  tasks:
    - name: "installing repo for Java 8 in Ubuntu 16.04"
      apt_repository:
        repo: "ppa:openjdk-r/ppa"
      when: ansible_distribution_release == 'xenial'

- name: "Install java from openjdk"
  hosts: "graylog_servers"
  become: True
  vars:
    # Graylog and Elasticsearch 5.x need both Java 8. This should be installed by a dedicated Java role. 
    graylog_install_java: False
    es_java_install: False

    # Var to be be used with elastic.elasticsearch role to force java version:
    es_java: "openjdk-8-jre-headless"

  roles:
    - role: "geerlingguy.java"
      when: ansible_distribution_release == 'xenial'
      java_packages:
        - "openjdk-8-jdk"

    - role: "Graylog2.graylog-ansible-role"
      tags: "graylog"

Explicit playbook of roles

It's good to be explicit, these are all the roles that you need to run for Graylog.

Note: in this example vars are in a more appropriate place at group_vars/group/vars

- name: "Apply roles for Graylog servers"
  hosts: "graylog_servers"
  become: True
  vars:
    graylog_install_elasticsearch: False
    graylog_install_mongodb:       False
    graylog_install_nginx:         False
    graylog_install_java:          False

  roles:

    - role: "geerlingguy.java"
      when: ansible_distribution_release == 'xenial'
      java_packages:
        - "openjdk-8-jdk"
      tags:
        - "elasticsearch"
        - "graylog"
        - "graylog_servers"

    - role: "elastic.elasticsearch"
      tags:
        - "elasticsearch"
        - "graylog_servers"

    - role: "jdauphant.nginx"
      tags:
        - "nginx"
        - "graylog_servers"

    - role: "Graylog2.graylog-ansible-role"
      tags:
        - "graylog"
        - "graylog_servers"

Conditional role dependencies

Dependencies can be enabled/disabled with the host_vars graylog_install_*. Take look into meta/main.yml for more information. Keep in mind that you have to install all dependencies even when they are disabled to prevent errors.

Tests

One can test the role on the supported distributions (see meta/main.yml for the complete list), by using the Docker images provided.

Example for Debian Jessie and Ubuntu Xenial:

$ cd graylog-ansible-role
$ docker build -t graylog-ansible-role-jessie -f tests/support/jessie_22.Dockerfile tests/support
$ docker run -it -v $PWD:/role graylog-ansible-role-jessie

For Xenial, just replace jessie with xenial in the above commands.

Example for CentOS 7 and Ubuntu Xenial:

Due to how systemd works with Docker, the following approach is suggested:

$ cd graylog-ansible-role
$ docker build -t graylog-ansible-role-centos7 -f tests/support/centos7_22.Dockerfile tests/support
$ docker run -d --privileged -it -v /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup:ro -v $PWD:/role:ro graylog-ansible-role-centos7 /usr/sbin/init
$ DOCKER_CONTAINER_ID=$(docker ps | grep centos | awk '{print $1}')
$ docker logs $DOCKER_CONTAINER_ID
$ docker exec -it $DOCKER_CONTAINER_ID /bin/bash -xec "bash -x run-tests.sh"
$ docker ps -a
$ docker stop $DOCKER_CONTAINER_ID
$ docker rm -v $DOCKER_CONTAINER_ID

Ubuntu Xenial:

$ cd graylog-ansible-role
$ docker build -t graylog-ansible-role-xenial -f tests/support/xenial_22.Dockerfile tests/support
$ docker run -d --privileged -it -v /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup:ro -v $PWD:/role:ro graylog-ansible-role-xenial /sbin/init
$ DOCKER_CONTAINER_ID=$(docker ps | grep xenial | awk '{print $1}')
$ docker logs $DOCKER_CONTAINER_ID
$ docker exec -it $DOCKER_CONTAINER_ID /bin/bash -xec "bash -x run-tests.sh"
$ docker ps -a
$ docker stop $DOCKER_CONTAINER_ID
$ docker rm -v $DOCKER_CONTAINER_ID

Further Reading

Great articles by Pablo Daniel Estigarribia Davyt on how to use this role:

• Install Graylog
• Receive messages from Logstash
• Monitor Graylog with NSCA

License

Author: Marius Sturm (marius@graylog.com) and contributors

License: Apache 2.0